Should I get a letter of rec?

[youngin]

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Just ended my summer research post MS-1 2 weeks ago in medicine and ended up with 1 poster and probably 2 publications. My preceptor is happy with what I have done and asked if I wanted a letter of rec. The only thing is I wasn't sure what I would want the letter for. Do people send letters from their summer research for residency? He is fairly known in his field, but I am not sure if I plan on going into it. If I should get a letter of rec, would it be better to just wait until I know what I would need the letter for so he can write it accordingly or get a general one now?

 

[lord_jeebus]

Better to get a letter you won't use (your preceptor will never know) than not get a letter you end up wanting later.

I would ask him if he would prefer to write it now or to wait for your clinical evaluations.

 

[InternationlDoc]

Thats the strategy I went for.

LJ has a good point. I'll let the PI know if he'd wanna wait for clinical evals - makes sense since what would he write about? how good of a lab rat i am? psh. Much good that can do if I want some competitive surgical field.

....hoping for publications in press..within 1 year

 

[youngin]

Thanks for the responses. How much and how do you keep in touch with your preceptors? He doesn't work at my med school so I would not see him again for a while.

 

[DocLan]

I did not get one since I would not now what it should be addressed towards. I think most people seem to get them when they're not needed just so they can see what they thought about them. But actually now that I am applying for the MPH program, it may have been useful so they can refer back to what they wrote when you do actually ask to get one later.